Reduced to Specimens  Uncut Version
by JaydeeGrey
Summary: Title says it all. The uncut/extended version of original fanfic 'Reduced to Specimens'. Following the Nibelheim incident, Zack and Cloud find themselves unwillingly subjected to Hojo's experimentations.


_**Please read note before reading chapter!**_

_My dear fans of a 'Reduced to Specimens' who have been waiting for the promised uncut/extended version of the fic, the time has come! I present you with the first chapter! I think I may have mentioned at one point that I was probably going to submit more than one chapter at once but...well that didn't happen. However, this first chapter is approximately three times as long as the original so I'm hoping that kinda makes up for it. I know some of you in a poll I had posted awhile back said you'd prefer to have multiple chapters submitted at once and a few even said they wanted the whole thing submitted at once, but truthfully, I don't know how long that would take. I still have 'Dreams Incarnate' and 'Reclamation' on the go right now so I have to give them some priority lol. Still, I love writing this story so I really can't keep myself away from it. _

_I'd like to mention before you start reading that there will be some pretty obvious differences between this version of the story and the original. The first is that it will clearly have parts in it that didn't exist in the original though I can't promise that every chapter will be dramatically different so don't be surprised if some of the chapters seem pretty much unchanged. What I've decided to do with this version is include multiple character perspectives within the chapters, so you'll be reading from not only the perspectives of Zack and Cloud, but some of the other characters as well. But I'm not going to have a header that reads "HOJO's POV" or anything when it's Hojo's POV, it'll just sorta happen and I do swith the perspectives around quite a bit, which may sound like it'll be hard to follow, but hopefully with the way it's written it won't be. I guess it's really a third person omnicient type of story now. Having said that, if you have any concerns over this at all, or if you find the chapter hard to follow at all, let me know and I'll try to keep things clearer in the following chapters. _

_Another thing that will be different is that I won't be including events happening outside the mansion. This is done diliberately as I want to showcase the one general setting so as to give a sense of greater confinement. I believe only a few of the chapters in the original had segments set outside the mansion, but just be aware they won't be in this version and if you think it will be difficult to read a story taking place in one building then you may wish to not read this version. I know I had a few people who felt the original story became monotonous because of the somewhat singular setting so I'm warning you now that almost everything that happens in the story with the exception of flashbacks and the ending chapters WILL take place in the Shinra Mansion. _

_Next thing to note: while I do try to stay true to the characters and some of the events of the original game, this story is ultimately AU so please keep that in mind whenever something comes up that makes you think "That's not how it happened in the game." _

_And one more thing! I did receive a fair number of comments on the original story that suggested there was too much/excessive violence or torture. In this version...how should I say this...there's going to be the same amount of violence and torture as I'm not going to cut anything from the original out of this version. In fact, there's probably going to end up being MORE violence and torture so...I think you know what I'm getting at. If it's not your cup of tea you know where the back button is and I sincerely apologise if anything you do read makes you uncomfortable. While you can expect most chapters to have some sort of unpleasant content, I do promise that I will always give warnings at the beginning of a chapter if there is material within that is of a sexual (especially non-consensual) nature. You should be aware that I intend this version to be a little darker than the original (if that's even possible), so just keep that in mind if you found the original a little difficult to get through and are intending on giving this version a try. _

_I think I'm done blabbing now. Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the poll awhile back and to those who expressed their interest in reading an uncut version of this story. I'm very sorry if I wasn't able to get a reply to you (life gets in the way and such) but most of the time, if you review, you can expect a response and know that even if I can't get back to you, I'm so honoured that you took the time to let me know what you thought. I hope to hear your thoughts on this uncut/extended version as well! Thanks guys and hope you enjoy the first chapter!_

_Jaydee_

**_P.S. for those who didn't read the original:_**_ no yaoi relationship exists between Zack and Cloud in this story. _

Chapter I

An eerie quiet was settling upon the town of Nibelheim as a white box truck and a van with the faded emblem of the Shinra Electric Power Company on its doors were heading toward Mount Nibel. The last screams of the townspeople had faded away, leaving only the soft crackling of the fires still burning in some of the houses and stores. It was dark and the valley was so choked with smoke that it was making it difficult for the drivers of the vehicles to navigate. The driver of the box truck, a man named Winslow, leaned forward in his seat, squinting out the windshield, just barely able to make out the rear lights of the van up ahead.

"There is road access to this place, right?" his passenger, Shawn, questioned a little uneasily.

"There has to be," Winslow replied, knowing there'd have to be one for maintenance vehicles to use on a fairly regular basis.

Shawn screwed up his nose then as he looked around briefly. "What's that smell?" he asked in slight disgust. It was an unusual smell to say the least.

"Bodies," the driver answered him, keeping his eyes forward but turning slightly. "It's what they smell like when they burn."

Silence fell upon the men then. Neither spoke what both were thinking; that they were in the midst of a crime scene. They weren't being paid to ask questions or make judgments. They were asked to leave their posts for the night as guards at the Shinra Mansion to accompany Shinra's lead scientist to the reactor to investigate what was being called an accident as a result of a system malfunction. They'd been told ahead of time that the town below the reactor had been destroyed, and with it the townspeople. They were also told that they were being paid extra to not only follow the lead scientist and his assistants up to the reactor, but to also keep their mouths shut about anything that they witnessed that night.

After another minute of driving through the thick smoke cover, they reached the access road and began to ascend the mountain. The smoke began to thin out and visibility became clearer the higher they got. It wasn't a long way to the top, but the time it took was extended due to the condition of the road. It was rough, making the vehicles bounce and forcing them to stay at a moderate to slow speed.

When they'd reached the summit, the reactor towered above them. It wasn't one of the largest reactors but it was impressive enough. It certainly didn't look like any sort of system malfunction had gone on. The guards got out of the box truck and waited for instruction. They watched as the doors on the van next to them opened and its passengers exited. One was, of course, Professor Hojo. The other four looked to be some of his assistants.

"You two can wait out here," the professor said to the two guards before motioning to his assistants to follow him into the reactor. Hojo had been heavily anticipating what he would find when he entered the reactor. He'd been alerted to the fact that something had happened there when one of his implanted sensors had gone off, indicating someone had broken into the Jenova Chamber. He was already aware that General Sephiroth was in Nibelheim and that he'd been spending time in the old manor, uncovering the secrets of his past. He knew that Sephiroth had been the one to set the town on fire. With all the townspeople now dead, he was left to wonder what had happened to Sephiroth. Earlier, motion detectors at the entrance to the reactor had indicated three life forms had entered and yet none had exited. Naturally, Hojo was left to conclude that Sephiroth was still inside the reactor. That's not exactly what he found.

The professor and his assistants stepped into the reactor through a side entrance and were met with the mixed scent of mako, something like burned plastic and blood. It was immediately evident that there had been a fight. There were traces of blood in various locations, most of it in the Jenova Chamber where it was discovered that Jenova herself had been beheaded. It angered Hojo to see her in that state. It meant he only had a limited amount of time to collect samples from her body that he would need for his research.

"Steadman!" he called to the assistant not far behind him.

"Professor," the assistant answered, moving quickly to stand next to him.

"Jenova needs to be removed from this location and taken to my labs," he instructed.

"Yes, sir," his assistant said with a nod before heading off to retrieve the equipment needed to release her from her bindings.

"Be quick about it!" Hojo demanded before taking out a scanner he'd brought with him to run blood samples through. He was shocked when he discovered some of the blood in the chamber to be Sephiroth's. No, not just some. A lot of the blood was Sephiroth's. He followed the trail of it for a few meters before stopping, seeing that it was trailing both up to Jenova's holding container and across the room to a utility alcove lined with electrical panels and pipes. There he found the greatest amount of blood, Sephiroth's mixed with that of another. His eyes grew wide then as he spotted Sephiroth's sword on the floor of the alcove and his gaze travelled across the area to a busted electrical panel on the wall. Below it was a long drop into raw mako. There was blood on the panel as well. With so much of the general's blood visible in the area and no sign of the general himself, there was only one thing to conclude and it made Hojo furious.

"How could this have happened, Goddammit!" the professor shouted as he leaned over to pick up the general's sword off the floor. One of his assistants turned away from the railing.

"Sir, Sephiroth is dead," he dared to state what was quickly becoming the obvious.

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?" Hojo shouted back, advancing on his assistant angrily. The man took a step back uneasily as he looked down at the sword clutched in the professor's hand. Hojo paused, letting his own gaze travel to the steel of the blade. He eyed the blood that was becoming sticky against its surface. He took a deep breath to calm himself once more before turning away from his assistant. "Get me the security tapes," he ordered then. "I want to know what happened!" He paced a moment before turning again to face his assistant. He tossed Sephiroth's sword toward him and headed for the exit.

"Professor?" his third assistant, Lyle, stopped him.

"What is it?" Hojo questioned impatiently.

"Survivors, sir, two of them," Lyle announced.

Hojo had completely forgotten about the other two life forms that had been picked up on the sensors at the reactor. He followed Lyle to where the supposed survivors lay. The first one he set eyes on was a member of the Shinra militia. He lay near the top of a staircase, his upper body slumped over some of the first few steps. A stream of blood had run from his torso down a few of the stairs, pooling on the fourth step. The wound went through from his chest to his back. It was highly suggestive of a sword wound. The second survivor was a SOLDIER. He lay near the bottom of the staircase, also bleeding from what appeared to be a sword wound. While he had no idea who the infantryman was, he did recognize the SOLDIER as First Class Zackary Fair.

Hojo thought for a moment. "We'll take them back to the Shinra mansion and get them fixed up while we find out what happened here. I believe their wounds may have been inflicted by Sephiroth himself. They should not have survived and I want to know why they have."

His assistants Lyle and Galen nodded and went to work, collecting the half-dead bodies from the stairs. They had no trouble carrying the infantryman out to the box truck but they realized fast that the SOLDIER was going to be more difficult to move. He was quite a bit heavier. Lyle took hold of his one arm and started to turn him over onto his back. He stopped abruptly in response to a sudden strong whiff of blood, letting go the SOLDIER's arm to cover his nose as he released a sound of disgust.

"What the hell is your problem?" Galen asked in annoyance, pushing Lyle out of the way. "It's just blood. You better get used to the smell of it if you're going to work for Hojo," he suggested while turning the SOLDIER over onto his back. Lyle was one of the newer assistants. Galen had already been working under Hojo for five years and had seen his fair share of blood and body fluids. "Come on, get his legs," he ordered and Lyle complied.

The SOLDIER stirred when he was lifted from the stairs, his small amount of movement startling the assistants a little, Lyle nearly dropping his legs.

"Quit being a scared little girl," Galen chided him before they began struggling to get the SOLDIER up the stairs and out to the box truck. They put him down in the back of the truck next to the infantryman, pushing and pulling until his feet were clear of the doors. Galen slammed the doors shut and looked at Lyle before they both turned their eyes toward what was left of the town in the valley below. There was nothing left really. A smoking pile of rubble. It wouldn't be their job to clear it up though, thankfully. A Shinra disaster clean-up team would have that task. It would be up to them to remove the charred remains of the town's residents.

Turning away from the scene before them, they went back into the reactor to help with Jenova's extraction before they could make their way back to the Shinra Mansion.

000

It was a slow ride back down to the mansion, the driver of the truck trying to keep the injured men and one of Hojo's lab assistants in the back from being thrown around. Lyle had been the one ordered to ride with them, being the newest assistant. He'd been given a package of gauze and tape to do a quick patch job on the two survivors to hopefully keep them from bleeding to death on the trip. It shocked him that they were still breathing when the truck pulled into a docking bay at the back of the building. The bay doors were already open and two men wearing white lab coats stood at the dock with two gurneys. Slowly, the driver began backing the truck into the bay.

"Seems a little weird, doesn't it?" Shawn spoke up.

"What?" Winslow questioned as he kept his eyes on his mirrors, still backing the truck up.

"You know, more of the Whitecoats," Shawn clarified. "Seems a little weird they'd be the ones waiting, not the medical staff."

"I guess," Winslow said with a shrug before bringing the truck to a stop.

"You know those stories that get told about the old manor sometimes?" Shawn asked.

"The stories?" the driver echoed, shaking his head a little.

"About the experiments done on people down in the basement."

"The ones that turn them into monsters that are then set free in the mountains?" Winslow replied and Shawn nodded. "Yeah," the driver confirmed. "What about them?"

"You ever think something like that could happen in this place?"

The driver smirked. "No," he denied. "The only experiments happening here involve mice and some sort of neuro crap." He put the truck in park and watched with his passenger through the mirrors as the Whitecoats proceeded to remove the human cargo from the back of the truck.

Once attached securely to the gurneys, the survivors were wheeled down to the medical sector on one of the basement floors and left waiting for the doctor to arrive. Dr. Marsh had been awoken in her room at the nearby staff house an hour earlier and was just arriving at the mansion about the same time the survivors had. The heels of her boots tapped against the cream-coloured tile on her way down to the medical sector. When she entered the sector she observed briefly the SOLDIER and the infantryman lying on the gurneys in front of her, thick pads of soiled gauze taped over their chests. She'd been told she would be receiving two men in need of medical attention, but these weren't men; they looked like boys to her. The infantryman, certainly, couldn't have been older than sixteen and looked like he could be as young as fourteen. The SOLDIER she believed to be younger than twenty. Both had blood covering most of the fronts of their uniforms and their faces and arms were dirty with what seemed like soot from a fire.

"Who are they?" she asked Galen who had stayed in the sector to wait for the doctor. He seemed busy filling out some forms on a clipboard and didn't bother to look up to answer.

"Incoherents," Galen replied simply, meaning 'unconscious and likely to remain so'.

"Where were they brought from?" Marsh asked next, standing next to the infantryman's gurney and pulling back the gauze on his chest slowly.

"Nibelheim," was Galen's short answer.

"They need to be prepped for surgery immediately," the doctor announced, inspecting briefly the wound that was still seeping fresh blood with every breath the poor boy took. His skin was deathly pale and the areas around his eyes and mouth beginning to blue. He was going to need a transfusion as quickly as possible.

"Winters has already been called," the lab assistant revealed. "I trust you can do the prepping yourself?" he inquired, mostly rhetorically.

"Yes," she agreed. "They should be able to withstand an airlift to the hospital in Costa del Sol after a short reparative procedure," she added.

"They won't be going to a hospital, Dr. Marsh," Galen said from the door, drawing her attention to him with a raised eyebrow. "You can direct your questions to the professor," the lab assistant spoke firmly before she watched him leave the room. No questions were really necessary at the moment. This was not the first time incoherents had been brought to the mansion. She found herself feeling a little sad as she commenced with preparing the two boys for surgery. They were so young to never wake up again.

000

Professor Hojo had just stepped into his office when his phone rang from his desk. He huffed in annoyance, knowing what the call was likely about. He picked up and tried to hide the sharpness in his tone as he greeted with his name, "Hojo."

"It's Tseng," spoke the voice of the Turk leader.

_Here we go_, Hojo thought, rolling his eyes and preparing to seem oblivious to the situation in Nibelheim. "How are you?" he questioned casually.

"Let's skip the pleasantries," the Turk replied firmly. "You're aware of the current situation in Nibelheim, I assume."

"I am," Hojo said with a barely recognizable sigh. He was awaiting the accusations he knew were coming.

"We've had correspondence with the first investigative deployment," Tseng revealed.

"Oh? Are they here already?" Hojo faked his surprise.

Tseng wasn't fooled by it. "Mmhm, a bit too late, it would seem," he said with clear insinuation in his tone.

"How do you mean?" Hojo asked rather innocently.

"Seems the surveillance footage from the reactor is missing," the Turk explained.

"Is that right?"

"Yes, and a SOLDIER, an infantryman, and the general himself are all unaccounted for," Tseng added.

No doubt the Turk believed the three men to be in his current possession but Hojo didn't feel he owed any admittance or explanation to Tseng. He answered only to the president. "How odd," he commented with a smile. "Given the state I would imagine some of the casualties to be in after such a horrendous fire, I would think it shall take some time to identify which remains belong to whom. Perhaps you'll never be able to identify these missing personnel."

"Professor," Tseng spoke in return.

"Hmm?"

"The president wishes a word," he announced then and almost immediately the voice of President Shinra was in his ear.

"Hojo," the man said in his usual stern tone.

"President Shinra," Hojo greeted him.

"You have the footage," the president stated.

"I do, sir," Hojo admitted. There was no reason to lie to the president, who on most occasions was in support of him and his actions.

"Then tell me what the hell is going on!" the president nearly shouted.

"Seems the general went rogue," Hojo answered simply.

"Do you have him contained?" the president questioned in a quieter voice.

"No," the professor denied. "The general is no longer with us," he said with regret. That fact was infuriating to him. So many years of work had gone to waste. He wouldn't let that happen again. He was too old to have another failure.

"What about the others?" the president inquired next.

"The townspeople?" Hojo said, though he knew that's not what the man was referring to.

"The SOLDIER and the two infantrymen on the mission with the general—" the president began to clarify but was interrupted by Tseng.

"One infantryman has been confirmed dead, sir," the Turk said.

"The others then," said the president with impatience rising in his voice.

"They've been wounded," Hojo divulged finally.

"Critically?"

"Yes," Hojo said, knowing well that there was still a good chance they wouldn't survive. The infantryman he could do without but the thought of having another SOLDIER in his custody somewhat excited him. It had been awhile.

"Did they bear witness to the general's insubordination?" the president asked quietly.

"Yes," Hojo said definitively.

"There cannot be any surviving witnesses. News that the General Sephiroth massacred a town cannot get out. The truth cannot reach the rest of the world." The president's words were clear. There could _not _be survivors.

"To kill a SOLDIER would be an awful waste," Hojo said by way of suggestion. The president, of course, knew what he meant.

"I can come up with cadavers," the man said fast. "I don't need the real men. Do what you want, but they don't leave your custody," he commanded firmly.

Hojo couldn't help but smile. "Of course."

"Hold on to the surveillance footage," the president instructed. "I want to see it when I am out your way soon."

"Yes, sir," Hojo agreed and with that the president hung up the phone. As the professor set the receiver in his hand down, he looked at the disc sitting on the desk in front of him. On it was the reactor surveillance footage. Though a part of him was eager to watch, another part was dreading it. Would he be able to withstand watching his greatest creation being destroyed? Ultimately, he needed to know what had happened.

Sitting down slowly, he took the disc and inserted it into his laptop and what he observed over the following minutes shocked and intrigued him just the same. He thought he'd had it figured out. First Class Fair had been the one to kill Sephiroth. It couldn't have happened any other way. But it did. The infantryman, the mere _child_, who was lying half-dead in the medical sector had managed to kill the general. What infuriated the professor more was that the general's defeat wasn't really shown on the footage. All he was able to see was the infantryman entering the Jenova Chamber where Sephiroth was and a few minutes later he exited alone and wounded before collapsing at the top of the stairs where he was found. There were no cameras in the Jenova chamber unfortunately. Frustrated, Hojo slammed his laptop shut and leaned back in his chair. This infantryman was more important than he thought. Now he'd have to keep him alive just to find out what had happened, how the boy had managed to kill the greatest man to ever live. In the meantime, he could at least learn a little more about who he currently had in his custody. He made a call on his phone to his assistant taking care of blood analysis.

"Deeter," his assistant answered a little tiredly.

"Do you have the profiles yet on the survivors?" Hojo questioned promptly without greeting.

"Yes, sir," Deeter spoke in a slightly more alert voice. "You want to see them?" he asked a little hesitantly.

"Yes, I want to see them," the professor snapped.

"Right away, professor, I'm sending them to your computer now," the assistant said a little nervously.

"Good," Hojo said before hanging up and opening his computer once more. He closed the surveillance footage and waited for the profiles to appear in his inbox. The first one he opened belonged to SOLDIER Fair. The information within the profile was nothing he hadn't seen before. He'd reviewed his profile before when Fair had been receiving mako injections as part of the SOLDIER program. The infantryman was more interesting to him at the moment. When his file came up, Hojo made immediate note of his name and his age. _Cloud Strife_, age _15_. He really was just a boy. He'd been enrolled in the Shinra SOLDIER Cadet Initiate program for a single semester before he'd been failed and had subsequently joined the Shinra Military Forces. And he was from Nibelheim, an interesting fact indeed. His mother was a resident of the town but no father was listed on record for him. His mother was undoubtedly dead, one of the many casualties of Sephiroth's sudden attack on the town. Experiencing a personal tragedy like that could certainly give him an added strength fueled by anger and sorrow, but nevertheless, it was unfathomable that someone of his size, stature, and inexperience could defeat Sephiroth in a match.

Sephiroth was gone now, which meant someone would eventually have to take his place. The man had been a work in progress that had reached near perfection and it had taken years. Now, Hojo found himself back at close to square one. He didn't have many more years to spend on his projects, but at the very least he believed he'd be able to create the next level of SOLDIER. He'd tried in the past but his subjects had always been sub-par and the results were always the same. They became deformed, grotesque versions of their former selves. Monsters and nothing else. But perhaps the outcome would be different for the First Class SOLDIER and the infantryman who managed to survive the greatest, most efficient killer ever born.

000

It was an agonizing wait for the professor to find out if Fair and Strife survived their surgeries but by 6 a.m. he was informed that they were both in stable condition and he made his way down to the medical sector to look upon the survivors of Sephiroth's final onslaught. He stood at the ends of their beds, side by side, and gazed upon them. His eyes travelled to Fair and he smiled. By accepted standards, he was the perfect SOLDIER. He was a very good physical specimen; healthy and fit. He looked at Strife then and frowned, shaking his head. Unfortunately, he was not of the same caliber as the SOLDIER but he had to be stronger than he looked if he could handle himself against Sephiroth. Hojo had many failures when trying to work with human subjects in the past, but he felt a fervent determination to succeed this time.

He walked slowly to the side of Strife's bed and leaned over him, looking at his face closely. "You destroyed something very important to me, you know," he whispered, his breath moving some of the strands of the boy's blond hair against his forehead. "Now your punishment will be your reward," he added with a smile.

"Professor?" a voice spoke from the doorway and drew his attention as he stood straight. Dr. Marsh entered the room slowly.

"Doctor," he greeted, stepping back from Strife's bed. "I'd like these men to be brought down to the D-Wing lab at nine," he said while adjusting his glasses slightly.

"Alright," she said with a short nod and Hojo stepped past her to head out. "Sir," she spoke up, making him pause and turn. "They are to remain here in the mansion then?" she asked uneasily.

"That's right," he confirmed, moving again to leave but hesitating. "You have questions, doctor?" he asked.

Marsh did have questions but she knew better than to ask them. Instead she shook her head and replied with a quiet "No, sir."

"Good," Hojo said and left the room.

Marsh stared at the vacant doorway a moment before looking down at the infantryman and the SOLDIER. He knew where they'd probably be heading in a few hours and she was right. At 9 a.m. she and another of the medical staff wheeled the boys down to the D-Wing lab where she noticed immediately the assistants prepping the two testing cylinders at the back of the room.

"Ah, right on time," Hojo spoke up when he took notice of her arrival. "Let's get started," he suggested. "Please, bring the specimens over," he ordered and the word _specimens_ stood out immediately in Marsh's head. She pushed over the gurney holding the infantryman and the medical assistant accompanying her pushed over the SOLDIER. She dismissed her medical assistant and stood back as Hojo's own assistants started to prep the two boys to be placed in the cylinders. Their clothing was removed and they were lifted from the gurneys to the floors of the cylinders so each could have a harness attached to them along with several intravenous tubes in their arms. Censors were attached to their chests, backs, and temples and finally masks were secured over their mouths and noses before the cylinders were shut. A code entered into a control panel retracted the lines on the harnesses, lifting their limp bodies from the bottoms of the cylinders and holding them slightly suspended. Another code began the feeds through their intravenous tubes and the monitors next to the cylinders began collecting the readings from their censors. A third code was punched in when it appeared all the equipment was functioning properly and with that water began to rise up from the grated floors of the cylinders filling up the spaces fast until the SOLDIER and the infantryman were submerged fully.

With the cylinders full, the air filter and propulsion systems were engaged below the floors and a steady supply of bubbles were produced that rose up from the grates at the boys' feet. With the systems in full operation, the harnesses on the boys were released and they were left floating in suspension. There was silence amongst the several assistants, the professor, and the doctor for a moment before Hojo stepped in front of the cylinders and faced his crew.

"We're going to begin a new project," he began finally, though they'd all gathered as much. Behind me are the two specimens. They have been assigned letters and numbers and you will refer to them as Specimen Z1 and Specimen C4," he announced while motioning to each of the specimens. "Right now the primary objective is to ensure the specimens recover from the injuries they sustained before being brought here. Should that objective be met, another primary objective will be assigned. Is that understood?"

His assistants and the doctor nodded.

"Good. Doctor Marsh will conduct assessments of their vitals three times daily and I shall say only once that this is a classified project. You are not permitted to discuss the details of it with anyone not authorized to know such details. I'd like to remind you that you've all signed confidentiality agreements and will face serious consequences if you infringe upon the agreements.

Again, there were nods of understanding, some a little more uneasy than others but none of them wanted to face those consequences, whether legal or other.

000

Four weeks passed after the Nibelheim incident and the president of Shinra finally found the time to travel out to the Shinra Mansion to view the footage from the mako reactor that had remained in Hojo's possession. The reactor was no longer standing. It had been destroyed in a controlled explosion not long after Hojo and his assistants had collected what they needed from it. The fire that destroyed the town was thus determined to be associated with the explosion and the area was restricted to the public due to risk of raw mako exposure. There was nothing for the public left to do but mourn.

The president walked next to Hojo as the professor led them into his one lab. Tseng, his lead Turk, followed close behind them, not yet aware of what he was about to be shown. When they entered the lab he could tell right away it was made to look very similar to the one he'd had in the old manor but he didn't give it much thought because his eyes quickly fell upon the most notable feature of the room. Two long glass cylinders were positioned towards the middle of the back of the room and submerged in liquid within each was a living person. At least, he assumed them to be living. One he recognized well, though he knew who both of them were. One was Private First Class Cloud Strife and the other was SOLDIER First Class Zackary Fair. Both appeared to be unconscious and Tseng could see that they had wounds that had been slowly healing. It was a shock to him as he'd originally been informed that the remains of Fair and Strife had been located and following the end of the incident investigation would be buried. He walked towards the tube encasing Zack and stared upon him. In his mind all he could see was Zack's girlfriend, Aerith, and her devastation over learning of Zack's death. He'd told her with a less than aching heart. He cared about her deeply, but wasn't completely distraught over bringing her the news of Zack's passing. He had to admit there were times in the past when he wished Zack weren't in the picture.

"They're alive?" he heard the president ask.

"Of course," Hojo replied. "And doing well," he added.

"You expect them to recover fully?"

"I do. As soon as the reparative process is complete and they are awake, I will commence with the enhancement procedures," Hojo explained. "And in time I will be able to present you with a new SOLDIER. Something a little more indestructible so that you may feel your investments are not going to waste."

"Is something the matter, Tseng?" the president questioned suddenly and Tseng looked back at him.

"Sir?" he responded with the shake of his head.

"I understand he was a well-known SOLDIER," the president continued. "To most, he will be remembered fondly, but the rest will know he was a traitor to Shinra. The mastermind of a plan to bring down the company through the destruction of our mako reactors. General Sephiroth was unfortunately not able to stop him and his accomplice," he said as he motioned to the infantryman. "But he perished a hero," he concluded.

It was wrong, the whole thing. Tseng hadn't been a witness to the Nibelheim incident but he still knew the truth, or at least he knew what was a lie. Zack was not a conspirator or a terrorist. He did not destroy the reactor and kill a town of people. Tseng had worked with Zack on several occasions and he knew the man to be incapable of such deception and destruction. He couldn't massacre a town of innocent people…but Sephiroth could.

"You understand?" the president drew his attention back and he gave a firm nod.

"I do, sir," he said smoothly. There was nothing to argue about. Zack's fate was sealed now. He was to be the scapegoat, at least to those in the higher echelon of Shinra. To everyone else and the general public, he was just a casualty of a horrible accident.

"Is there anything I can do to aid you, professor?" the president asked when he was satisfied Tseng had accepted what he'd been told.

"I could use a few Turks when the specimens have awoken, specifically ones who can follow orders unquestioningly," Hojo requested.

"All of my Turks can do as such."

"I think you'd agree that these are special circumstances," Hojo pointed out in a hushed voice and the president nodded.

"Fine, I have two in mind," he said and Tseng knew exactly who he was thinking of, but their assistance wouldn't be required for another five weeks…

000

Warmth. That's what Zack felt first as he was waking after what seemed like only minutes since he'd figured out he was inside a truck and being taken away from the reactor in Nibelheim. It was a comfortable warmth that enveloped his whole body. He felt weightless and while he'd been expecting pain, he felt none, the first indication to him that his sense of how much time had passed was off. Slowly, he opened his eyes. They tingled as he did so and he realized then he was submerged in liquid. He looked down first, seeing his feet hanging below him but not touching bottom. Bubbles obscured his view of what was below his feet. He noticed then that there were several thin plastic tubes imbedded in his wrists and arms and some sort of censor attached to the centre of his chest. He reached to his face, feeling a mask that was covering his mouth and nose, allowing him to breathe.

_Where am I? _he wondered, his mind clouded in confusion. _The last thing I remember…Sephiroth…being carried…the truck… _

He shook his thoughts away and squinted ahead of him. He was in some sort of tube. It was about 4 feet in diameter but was small enough to make him feel trapped. He reached out and touched the clear, curved walls around him. They were smooth and cold, indicating the temperature outside what seemed like a tank was a lot cooler than inside. Past the walls he could see several things. There was a desk on the opposite wall, covered in papers, folders, and binders. There were at least ten file cabinets nearby on the right wall and many shelves of books above both the desk and cabinets. In the centre of the room was a metal operating table. To the left…

His visual tour was halted when he set eyes on what was next to him about a meter away. There was another vertical tube the same as his, and submerged in the same clear liquid as him was Cloud, floating unconsciously, his head down at his chest.

"Cloud," he spoke out loud, having forgotten already about the mask over his mouth. He contemplated trying to remove it but knew that wouldn't be a good idea. Instead, he knocked on the thick glass before him, hoping to wake his friend. Nothing. Cloud made no movement. Zack was about to knock again when something caught his attention to the right. The door to the room opened with a creak and a man walked in, followed by two others. Zack's eyes widened as he recognized the man. It was Professor Hojo, the head of Shinra's science department. He had always creeped Zack out. Now he was even more confused over why he and Cloud were there in what he could only assume was one of the professor's labs. It wasn't like any of the labs he'd been in before. It was old, the walls made of stone, similar to some of the rooms in the old Shinra Manor.

The professor started to say something and it was a little difficult to make it out through the water and glass in front of him but what he heard was "Well, good to see that one of our specimens has finally woken up from his beauty sleep." A smug grin adorned the man's face.

_Specimens? What the fuck is he talking about? _Zack questioned internally.

"How are you feeling, Z1?" he asked, looking directly at Zack.

Zack frowned, he clenched his right fist. Something was wrong. Hojo was planning something and though he hated to admit it, he was sure he knew at least part of that plan. There had always been rumors about the professor. About the experimentation he performed outside of his regular duties at Shinra. It had been suggested that the professor had been performing experiments on human subjects for decades—SOLDIERs even! But no definitive proof had ever been presented. Zack had no reason to doubt it now. Not after what had just happened to Sephiroth. In the man's final days, he had claimed vehemently that he had been the product of experimentation, and now it seemed he and Cloud had been appointed Hojo's new subjects for whatever experiment he had planned now.

"Well there's no sense in keeping you in there now that you're all fixed up, is there?" Hojo said happily as he strolled over to a control panel next to the tube. He punched in a code on the keys and a second later the air mask detached from Zack's face. He wasn't expecting it and was unlucky enough to be taking a breath at that moment, catching some of the liquid in his airway. He gagged and panicked momentarily, needing air to catch his breath and rid himself of what he'd inhaled. He thrashed for a moment until he felt the liquid being suctioned out through the bottom of the tube. Before he knew it, he was standing in the empty cylinder. Not for long, however, as he fell to his knees coughing and choking on the liquid in his throat. He struggled to pull himself back to a stand, gripping one of the glass sides of the tube. For some reason it felt as though he hadn't stood on his own two feet in months and his muscles shook as he tried to hold himself up now. Finally, with what he thought was a steady grip on the glass, he was able to look at the professor and glare.

"Hojo," he said his name with contempt. "What the hell are we doing here?"

"Please try to calm down, Z1," he said casually, his arms behind his back.

"My name is Zack Fair, SOLDIER, first class, you know that, Hojo!" Zack shot back at him.

Hojo only smirked and turned his back on Zack, heading over to his desk. "Denial will not help you, Z1," he commented as he sifted through the things on his desk.

"You owe me an explanation!" he spoke forcefully, trying to keep the nervous shaking he felt from his voice.

"No, not really," Hojo said with a scoff, turning back to Zack with a folder in his hand. "But I'll humor you," he added. "Seems you and C4 have lived through what no one would ever have expected you to, surviving a fight against the mighty Sephiroth. And that has earned you both a special place here. You will both receive plentiful gifts for your strength and perseverance. You'll thank me later."

As Hojo had been talking, Zack had let his eyes wander down his own bare torso, noticing for the first time that the wounds he'd sustained from the fight with Sephiroth were healed with only scars left behind, which meant…it really had been months since what had happened. "You're off your rocker, old man," he said angrily. "Now you let Cloud and I out of here right now!" he demanded as he started ripping the plastic tubes from his arms.

He felt the rage bubbling inside him. He knew where it was coming from. Fear. He hated being afraid and right now he was terrified. He and Cloud were alone as far as he knew. No one knew where they were. Most people probably assumed they were dead. Hojo had control. He knew that.

"Enough talking for now, Z1," Hojo said, ignoring his order. "I think it's time you rest some more. There shall be plenty of time to exercise your vocal cords in the near future."

With that said Hojo strolled over to the control panel next to the cylinder and punched in a code. Zack looked down as he felt something coming up through the grated floor. He could barely make out a thin mist seeping upwards. As it reached his head and he took a breath, he gasped as he felt his chest tighten and his muscles tense up. His limbs started going numb. He tried holding his breath but it made no difference. The vapor was seeping into his pores, dulling all his nerves. After a few moments he collapsed to his knees and shortly after that he found himself crumpled against the glass helplessly. He couldn't move. He could barely breathe. He fought the urge to let his eye lids fall as he began to feel the mist being sucked out of the tank once again through the floor.

There was the sound of a suction being released and the front of the tube slid open with a hiss. Hojo's lab assistants were there in a flash to drag his limp form out and across the lab. The cold air hit his still wet body and sent chills down to his core. He wanted nothing more than to rip himself free of the hands of the lab assistants and throw a good right hook at Hojo's face but he couldn't. He couldn't fight back, he couldn't even speak. He tried to hold onto consciousness as he was dragged to the door but the sedative was too overwhelming. His last vision was of Cloud, still floating quietly in his tank.

It seemed like days had passed when Zack finally woke up again, though he doubted that much time had really passed. A couple hours maybe. He opened his eyes slowly and glanced around. He was lying in one very uncomfortable position on a cot with his left arm underneath him and his right leg hanging over the edge. As he dragged himself up to a sitting position he could feel a few of his joints cracking which, despite the awful sound, made him feel a little better. He was groggy but without much pain. He was however quite cold. It felt almost like being in a refrigerator. That was his first indication that the room was far below surface level. He looked to his left and found a set of clothes folded neatly. Plain black pants and boxer shorts and a black t-shirt. He became aware then that he was still unclothed.

Once dressed, he paced the room a bit, which was almost like walking in a circle. It wasn't a very big room. Two cots, one blanket and pillow on each. One set of clothes. No socks or shoes. A small nook of a bathroom which consisted of a toilet and sink, one bar of soap, one roll of toilet paper, one hand towel. There was pretty much nothing in there that he could use as a weapon. There were no apparent weaknesses in the room. The cell was tight. Zack sighed, falling back on the cot, his back against the wall. Inevitably she was going to enter into his mind. He started to think of Aerith. Somehow, he had to get to her. Had to let her know he was okay. He would figure out something. He had to…

000

It was early afternoon when Dr. Marsh arrived in the D-Wing lab to do her usual assessments. When she pushed open the door and stepped in the room she was shocked to see the one tank was empty and the specimen gone.

"Oh no," she said aloud as she approached the empty cylinder. Her only thought was that there must have been complications earlier in the day and for whatever reason, the specimen hadn't survived. Sometimes incoherents just died. She looked over at the other specimen grimly. He was alone now.

Just then, the door opened behind her and the professor entered with one of his assistants. "Doctor," he greeted when he noticed her presence.

"Professor, what happened?" she almost blurted.

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"What happened to Z1?" she clarified.

"Nothing has happened yet. He recovered from the reparative process early this morning and is being held in cell eight," the man explained.

"Recovered?" she repeated with a little confusion.

"He woke up," Hojo said with a huff of impatience.

Marsh looked back at him in surprise. "He woke up?" she echoed in awe.

"Honestly, doctor, do you need to keep repeating me?" the professor snapped. "Yes, woke up. He was sedated and taken to cell eight. By the looks of it, C4 will be joining him shortly. He's been about to wake up all day long," he said as he sat at his desk to make some notes. "Convenient of them to do it on the same day I must say," he added with a slight chuckle.

Still shocked, Marsh turned her attention back to C4. She couldn't believe it. He and Z1 weren't just incoherents anymore. Somehow, that frightened her. She watched his monitors for awhile before she found herself saying aloud "I think he's dreaming." She heard the professor's chair sliding back on the floor and a moment later Hojo was next to her. He observed the monitors as well before stepping in front of the cylinder and looking in at his specimen.

Cloud _was _dreaming. Dreaming of one of the last things he could remember. He stood in front of Sephiroth and stared into his eyes. Those fierce eyes pierced him almost just as fiercely as his sword, bringing forth a cry that stunned him into an abrupt awakening. _A dream_, Cloud thought. _Just a dream_. His eyes shot open and he found himself staring into a blur of liquid. He thrashed instinctively trying to get to the surface of whatever body of water he had fallen into. As his limbs crashed against something hard, his mind was fast to remind him that there was no body of water. The very last thing he could remember was collapsing at the top of the stairs in the reactor. _Then that means…it really happened_, he thought. _I killed Sephiroth. _

Confusion and awe were ringing in his head as he tried to clear the bubbles from around him so he could see where he was. Unexpectedly, he found himself staring into the face of an older man with black hair and dark-rimmed glasses who was glaring in at him with deep interest. He was startled, pushing himself back with his hands and hitting his back against the glass wall of the tube. _It has to be a nightmare…_was all he could think in that moment.

Marsh watched from behind the professor as the specimen was coming out of his unconscious state and she observed with amazement the way his once unmoving, relaxed body came alive and uncertainty and emotion became evident in his body language and wide blue eyes. He was scared.

"Take a deep breath, C4," Hojo commanded though Cloud didn't understand what the man meant until an apparent mask over his mouth and nose were detached. He stopped breathing immediately but hadn't taken the deep breath that was suggested. He fought against the temptation to try and swim upwards but he couldn't stop himself from panicking a little, pushing at the glass as the water was retreating downwards. He fell against the slick surface in front of him when he was no longer held suspended and he slid to the grated floor where he panted and looked around in shock.

"Wh-where am I?" he questioned softly, his voice shaking.

"There's nothing to worry about, C4," Hojo said in return. He watched with mild intrigue the way the specimen reacted upon the realization he was unclothed by covering himself with his hands shyly in a way Z1 hadn't.

"Who are you?" Cloud asked in the same quivering voice as before. He kept blinking his eyes but there seemed to be a permanent blur in them. "Where's Zack?" he asked then, remembering suddenly that he'd been only meters away from Zack when he'd collapsed and lost consciousness.

"Now's not the time for questions, C4," the professor assured him.

"W-what?" Cloud breathed out, only now hearing what the man had called him twice. Something wasn't right, he could feel it.

"There are things we need to talk about soon, C4," the man above him said with an eerie smile. "But for now, why don't you just rest. Everything changes for you _tomorrow_." Cloud watched him take a few steps to the right before his eyes met those of a woman's. He hadn't noticed her until that moment. Perhaps she'd been blocked from view.

Marsh's breath caught in her chest when the specimen looked at her. In the state he was in at that moment, he seemed younger than before. Now she was looking at a child so uneasy and fearful that it made her suddenly sick. Yet, she couldn't tear her eyes away. She watched as the sedative was pumped into the tank and took hold of him, making his eyes heavy and pulling him down until he was quiet, relaxed and unmoving, like she was so used to seeing him.

000

Zack lay on his back with his hands behind his head. He was deep in thought, going through all the events that he could remember in the last few days before he and Cloud were brought to the apparent Shinra Mansion. The question he kept asking was _why?_ Why were he and Cloud there? What did Hojo want to do with them? He could only remember a little of when Hojo must have gotten to the reactor…

He had been slipping in and out of light consciousness as he lay on the stairs in the reactor. Each time he had come back to awareness he found himself in too much pain and too tired to even open his eyes. His limbs felt heavy and his head ached. He had heard voices before, though there seemed to be silence now. They had seemed muffled and far away. He hadn't been able to make out what they were saying. He had felt something then. It felt like vibrations. Though they were light they still sent shockwaves of pain through him. He had felt hands on him, grabbing his arms and legs and hauling him up forcefully. He'd wanted to cry out but the sound came as only a shallow, barely audible gurgling sound in his throat caused by the blood that had collected there. He'd been taken outside and lain down on the floor of what he could only assume was a truck.

There he lay, forcing himself to open his eyes, if only a little. Just enough to try and get a handle on what was going on. As he pried his eyelids open, he could see the fuzzy, slightly out of focus, form of Cloud lying unconscious next to him. He made a failed attempt at reaching toward him just before he felt the vehicle he was in come to life, once again striking him with small shocks of pain from the vibrations. His assumption was that he and Cloud were going to be getting help, though he wished he could have seen who it was that had come for him and his friend. Panic and emotion rose in him as he thought of what had just occurred in that past hour or so. He had had to force himself to relax again in order to breathe past the mucous and blood filling his nose and throat. He looked at Cloud once more before closing his eyes. _Cloud_, he said silently in his mind. _Hold on, we'll be okay. _It was his last thought before he'd fallen back into darkness.

He'd thought they were going to be taken to a hospital. If he was going to wake up at all, he thought he'd wake up in North Corel, but somehow he and Cloud had ended up in the mansion instead.

His mind returned over and over to dwell on everything Hojo had said. He seemed to believe he was going to be rewarding Cloud and him with something, though knowing Hojo, there was nothing rewarding about it. He had to keep his cool. Though inside he knew he could freak out at any moment, he had to remain collected. It was the only way he was going to get out of there.

There was the sound of beeps coming from a keypad outside the room and a second later the door clicked open. Hojo's lab assistants appeared, dragging in Cloud's sedated body. They dropped him to the floor carelessly and left as quick as they came, barely giving Zack enough time to shout some profanities at them.

Slowly, Zack grasped Cloud's body and pulled him up onto the cot to his left. He dried him off and dressed him before pulling the blanket over him. _It's bloody freezing in this hell hole_ Zack thought as he stared down at his friend. He felt something rise up inside him as he stared at the unconscious kid—well not a kid…He was a teenager, but Zack couldn't help thinking of him like a kid. Like the kid brother he never had. It only made what he felt stronger. Guilt.

"Don't worry, Spike," he said as he pushed some of his blond hair out of his face and stepped back to his own cot, sitting down. "I got us into this and I'll get us out." He was almost convinced.

Cloud didn't wake from the sedative as fast as Zack had. He watched Cloud for over an hour, watching his chest slowly rising and falling, while he sat on the side of his own cot, jiggling his one knee nervously. He had been going over and over again in his head what he would say to him when he woke up but it was several hours later when that time came and by that point, he really wasn't sure what to say. He observed quietly as Cloud moved his arm over his chest to the spot where Sephiroth had impaled him and he wondered if his friend was feeling the same phantom pain he had felt himself a few times. Cloud's eyes fluttered open then and he turned his head Zack's way, before sitting up slowly.

"Zack…" he began groggily. "I had the weirdest dream…" He moved his legs over the side of the bed and rubbed his face with his hands. Zack was silent. He really didn't know what to say for once in his life. He watched as Cloud lowered his arms and glanced around at the room they were in. Confusion flashed across his face. "It was a dream…right?" he said in a low tone before looking Zack in his violet blue eyes. "Zack, where are we?"

His voice was tentative then. Meek, like a child's. It was painstaking for Zack to hear. He cleared his throat before answering.

"I think…we're in the Shinra Mansion," he began.

"The mansion?" Cloud echoed with doubt. He'd seen the mansion and this didn't seem like it.

"Not the old manor," Zack replied. "The new compound. Somewhere in one of its lower levels…" he said slowly.

Cloud looked down at the floor. He shook his head, remembering suddenly waking up submerged in water and finding himself looking through glass at people he'd never seen before but instantly didn't trust. "I don't understand. That man. There was a man with dark hair and glasses—" he started to say.

"Hojo," Zack cut him off. Cloud's eyes darted up. He recognized the name and instantly he was flooded with memories of the stories he'd heard.

"What…what does he want with us?"

Zack could hear a small hint of fear in Cloud's voice though he knew he was trying hard to hide it. It was time for him to take charge of the messed up situation and put on the brave face.

"It doesn't matter. We won't be staying," he declared confidently. "I'll get us out of here faster than you know it, Spike! Just got to wait for the right moment. As soon as that door opens," he said, pointing to the only exit to the small room. Cloud looked at the door almost expectantly, like it should have opened right that minute. A moment later he was looking down again. Zack exhaled slowly, sighing softly. "Don't worry, okay? Everything will be fine."

"It's not that. It's just…" Cloud began softly, but trailed off.

"Are you thinking about what happened at the reactor?" Zack hazarded a guess. Cloud was silent but over the time he had known him he had come to be able to interpret the many 'silences of Cloud.'

"Aren't you?" Cloud looked up at him. Zack scoffed. Cloud knew him too. "I don't know how you couldn't be…I don't even know what happened, Zack. One minute, things were fine…then Sephiroth…it wasn't him anymore."

Zack thought back to the last image of Sephiroth he had in his memory. His general. His mentor. His friend. If only it hadn't been him. Yet it was…and that's what made the memory painful.

"Hojo healed us?" Cloud spoke, breaking into Zack's thoughts. He had lifted his shirt to look at his chest that was smooth and nearly scarless. Only a thin, barely visible line showed where Sephiroth's sword had entered his body. Zack nodded. "Why would he do that?"

"Who knows why Hojo does anything he does?" was all Zack could say in return, though he had his assumptions about why. Hojo had made it fairly obvious that he'd taken him and Cloud in as his new specimens for some sort of project.

Both Zack and Cloud grew quiet rather quickly following that final statement, not knowing what else to say. Both were unsure and rather frightened, waiting for what was going to happen. They both watched the door obsessively, hoping to see it open, but it wasn't until morning that they heard the sound of the keypad outside the door and Cloud looked over at Zack immediately, watching as he readied himself to strike.


End file.
